


The Drama Club- A Few Nights Before...

by Alice_Writes_Stuff



Series: The Drama Club [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec and Izzy are twins here, Alec is still older though, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, And Jace is the one straight white dude., Asexual Raphael, Author isn't American, Autistic Alec Lightwood, Clary and Alec are gay, Clary is so gay for Izzy from the get-go i swear to god, F/F, Jace is a good friend to Alec, Lightwood Siblings, M/M, Magnus and Izzy are bi, Simon is pan, So will probably make mistakes, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-12 03:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11153280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_Writes_Stuff/pseuds/Alice_Writes_Stuff
Summary: When Clary, Jace, Alec, Isabelle, Magnus and Simon are put together for a project in Drama, they have no idea where it will lead. As the school year progresses, friendships are forged and relationships begin which will change all of their lives forever... (High school AU with Malec, Clizzy and Saphael. Rating may change. Part one of a series.)





	1. Chapter 1

The Drama Club

Part One- A Few Nights Before…

**A.N- So, I’m finally starting this fic. Updating might be a bit all over the place, so keep that in mind. Also, this is based predominantly on my own experiences in senior year, so apologies if it seems unrealistic for an American high school. I’ll do my best, but I will probably get things wrong, so fair warning.**

**I would also like to point out that the things Clary thinks about Alec in this chapter are not indicative of my thoughts regarding autistic people. Clary at this point knows Alec by reputation only, and doesn’t know that he has autism. Once they start working together and become friends, this** **will change. This is only the beginning.**

Chapter One- Clary

Clary wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when she entered the drama class for the first time. The other kids had already got chairs from the piles stacked up at the side and formed a circle, making it awkward for her to do the same. She had to lift her chair up over the head of a dark-haired girl she knew vaguely but had never actually spoken to.

“Sorry,” she muttered, not looking at the girl as she brought the chair to the corner next to her best friend, Simon. He’d entered with her, but had been fortunate enough to find an empty seat that hadn’t been part of the stacks. The reason for this empty chair soon became clear, as at that moment, its original occupant- a tall, blonde boy- entered the room.

“I leave for two minutes,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. Simon got to his feet.

“You can take it if you want, I don’t mind.” Clary sighed. She loved Simon like he was her brother, but this tendency he had to be a pushover drove her nuts sometimes. He needed a lesson in confidence, sooner rather than later. The boy just shrugged.

“No, you keep it. It’ll save me bringing it over there.” He pointed to where the dark-haired girl Clary had lifted her chair over earlier sat next to a taller, dark-haired boy, who Clary now realised was her brother. Great, Alec the weirdo was in their class. Just what she needed. She sighed again, and this time the boy heard her.

“Something the matter, Little Red?” he asked before shaking his head. He must’ve followed her gaze and realised what she’d meant by that sigh. Clearly, he was more perceptive than his friend. Not that this was saying much. Anyone could be more perceptive than Alec Lightwood. The blonde boy walked over, getting a chair and setting it down beside Alec.

Clary frowned and looked around the room. She realised that apart from Simon, she didn’t actually know anyone in the room. Well, she knew of a handful, but that wasn’t the same thing. She knew of Alec Lightwood, obviously, and thus was also able to put a name to the dark-haired girl- she had to be Isabelle Lightwood, Alec’s twin sister. She was also almost unfairly attractive, but that was beside the point. Clary also recognised Magnus Bane, the Asian kid from her home-room. To be fair, though, most people knew him on some level. He had an air of likeability that made him popular- plus, he was one of the few kids in their year to have a car, which probably helped too.

It was maybe another ten minutes before the teacher came in. By now, Clary had almost entered an unofficial staring contest with Isabelle Lightwood, and Simon was starting to notice.

“This might be some kind of friend code violation, if I still had a crush on her.” Clary looked at him for a second. She’d forgotten that this was the same Isabelle that Simon had had a crush on in their sophomore year.

“I forgot about that,” she admitted, glancing back at Isabelle again. By now she was positive that Isabelle was looking at her too, hence the unofficial staring competition.

Finally, the teacher entered the classroom. Clary had seen her around the school, but didn’t really know much about her beyond her name- Mrs Gray- and what she looked like. Therefore, she wasn’t really sure what to expect from her. She seemed pretty normal at first, walking over to her desk and starting to take attendance almost straight away, but only time would tell. After a couple of minutes, Clary heard her name being called.

“Clarissa Fray?” Clary held up her hand.

“It’s just Clary,” she said, once again cursing whichever one of her parents had been behind the name. It was probably her father’s idea, saddling her and her estranged older brother with stupid names. Dismissing that thought, she continued listening to the register, wanting confirmation that Isabelle was definitely who Clary thought she was. Only one other kid corrected the teacher in regards to their name- the blonde guy from earlier, the one who’d called her Little Red.

“Jonathan Herondale?” the teacher called.

“It’s Jace,” the guy said. Clary wondered how he got Jace from Jonathan, but decided not to question it.

Before long, the attendance was finished, and the teacher addressed the class.

“Alright, today we’re going to do some icebreaker activities, and tomorrow you will be put into groups for your first project, which is to make a play based on one of three prompts, which you will see tomorrow.”

For their first icebreaker activity, they each had to state their name and something about themselves. Mrs Gray pointed to a black girl with curly hair who was sitting on Simon’s other side and told her to start.

“Alright,” the girl began. “My name is Maia Roberts, and I have a part time job at the Hunter’s Moon, which is a small restaurant not far from here.” The teacher nodded, and pointed to Simon, indicating that it was his turn now.

“I’m Simon Lewis, and, um, I can recite most of the dialogue from the first Star Wars movie.” He wasn’t lying, of course, which made their annual Star Wars marathons on May 4th a little annoying. Clary knew it was her turn now, though she wasn’t quite sure what to say at first.

“My name’s Clary, and I’ve been told I’m good at art.” She wasn’t sure why she said that- probably because it was the best thing she could say about herself, the thing that would impress Isabelle. Not that she cared about that, of course.

From there, another three or four people Clary didn’t know went, and then it was the turns of Isabelle, Alec and Jace. Isabelle went first.

“I’m Isabelle Lightwood, I’m the younger twin by about half an hour, and I want to study forensics at university.” Alec took a minute to speak, twisting his hands in the meantime- Clary had seen him do that before, but had never been sure as to why.

“My name is Alec Lightwood, obviously I’m the older twin- don’t ask me what that half hour was like, I couldn’t tell you- and my favourite sport is archery.” He looked like there was more he wanted to say on that subject, but he was trying to hold back on it. Then it was Jace’s turn.

“Um, I’m Jace, which is short for Jonathan Christopher, by the way, and I’m an only child.” He gestured to Isabelle and Alec. “In fact, these guys are the closest thing I’ve had to siblings, and I honestly couldn’t ask for a better fake family.” Clary couldn’t help smiling at that.

The final person to speak was Magnus Bane. He took a minute too, but he seemed much more relaxed than Alec had.

“My name’s Magnus Bane, I like cats, glitter, and as of last year, I am openly bisexual.” Clary wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but she could’ve sworn he was looking directly at Alec here. Naturally, Alec didn’t seem to get the hint. She had expected someone to say something about this particular announcement, but nobody did. The perks of being popular, she thought almost bitterly.

Another couple of minutes passed before the teacher spoke to them again.

“Alright, we’re going to do another icebreaker. I’m going to split you up into groups of about three or four, which will be selected at random. Talk amongst yourselves about what you want to get out of this year, what other classes you’re doing, that sort of thing.” The teacher then put them into groups, and before long Clary found herself sitting in a little huddle with Maia Roberts and Magnus Bane. Magnus spoke first.

“Okay, this might sound rude, but I have to ask. Who calls their child Clarissa? I mean, no disrespect to your parents or anything, but that’s just weird.

“This coming from a guy with the name Magnus Bane,” Maia pointed out.

“Touché,” he replied. “Seriously, though, how did you manage to get a name like that?”

“It happens when your father got stuck with the name Valentine Morgenstern, and likes making his children suffer too.”

“Fair enough.” Maia was quiet for a moment, before she spoke again.

“Okay, can we all just assume we’re here for extra credit or an easy A or something and leave it at that? Cause I’m guessing that’s why we’re here, and it saves us all having to repeat ourselves.” Clary nodded. That wasn’t exactly why she was here, but it would do for now. Shortly after this, the bell rang.

“Anyone in Math next?” Clary asked. They both shook their heads, so she went over to Simon. They were in the same class this year, they could walk together.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N- This time I’ve got two POVs, which may not always be the case, we’ll see. I’ve based the maths teacher here off my sixth year maths teacher. Most if not all of the teachers here are based off teachers at my high school, I’ve just changed their names. So yes, this does mean I had a teacher who was involved in the UK miner’s strikes. Also, in this chapter, seeds will be sown for all three romantic subplots. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that Raphael is definitely asexual, but he’s not aromantic. He’s not too comfortable in his sexuality yet, but that’ll improve later on.**

**Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters in this story, obviously, nor do I own the shows and things they mention- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack, Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids and Hamilton- in this chapter.**

Chapter Two

Simon

By the time Simon and Clary got up to their math class, there were only two seats left. One was next to Alec Lightwood, the other next to a dark-haired guy Simon didn’t know by name.

“I’ll take that seat,” he pointed to the second empty seat. Clary’s face fell.  
“Don’t worry about it, okay? Alec seems alright. I was in a group with him in that last icebreaker, and he didn’t seem that bad.” She sighed and went to take the seat. Simon made his way along to the other seat, pausing a minute.

“Is this seat taken?” The boy shook his head, and Simon sat down, dumping his bag on the floor. He turned to look at the boy, trying to work out if he’d ever seen him before. He was kinda cute, but Simon almost immediately dismissed that thought. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought something like that, even about another guy- he’d had that crush on Jace Herondale last semester, but he hadn’t told anyone, not even Clary. But it wasn’t something he wanted to dwell on, especially in the middle of class, because it could get very messy very quickly.

Before he could think about it properly, he decided to initiate a conversation.

“I’m Lewis. Simon Lewis,” he said, then instantly regretted it. He was supposed to be saying hello to this guy, not hitting on him. Of course, it didn’t really count as that, since it was only a line he’d used a couple of times and not anything else, but he still felt kind of silly for saying it.

“Raphael Santiago,” the boy replied. Simon couldn’t help smiling.

“Raphael, as in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?” Raphael just looked a bit confused.

“I think my parents had the Renaissance painter in mind, actually.” Simon felt a bit embarrassed by that, having just revealed to Raphael that he was essentially a massive, massive nerd.

“That makes sense too,” he paused. “I take it you’ve seen it, at least? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that is.” He really wasn’t doing a good job here, but it was too late to back out now.

“No, that was never really my thing growing up. My favourite cartoons when I was younger were Flapjack and Grizzly Tales.” Simon had heard of the first one, but not the second.

“Grizzly what now?”

“They used to show it on Nickelodeon. Basically, in every episode a bratty kid is taught a lesson in a really brutal way, usually one that ruins the rest of their lives, if it doesn’t end their lives right there and then.”

“Sounds… fun,” Simon muttered. Then he smiled, an idea forming in his mind. It was probably a bad one, but what did that matter? “How about you show me a couple episodes some time? I’ll show you some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too maybe, so you can see what you’re missing.” Raphael frowned at him.

“This isn’t a date, is it?”

“No, it’s just a friendly offer to hang out. You know, as friends.” Raphael nodded.

“Alright. Give me your number or something, so we can work out a time and everything.” Simon quickly tore a scrap of paper from his maths book, writing his number on it and handing it over to Raphael. It was good timing, because just at that moment, the teacher walked in and the lesson began.

Alec

While all this had been going on, Alec had been turning over the events of the previous class in his mind. There had been the guy with the glasses, Simon, who’d taken Jace’s seat almost as soon as he’d left the room. It had taken a pointed look from Izzy to stop him from saying anything about this. Then there had been that ginger girl with the slightly unfortunate name, who’d got into a staring contest with Izzy. Not that this bothered him too much- it wasn’t the first time he’d noticed someone looking at her, after all. Finally, there had been those icebreakers. His mind kept going back to Magnus Bane’s introduction, trying to work out whether or not he’d been looking at Alec, or if that had all been in his head. It probably had been- people like Magnus didn’t generally pay attention to people like him, after all.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the ginger girl-Clary-lightly tapping his arm. He shook her off.

“What do you want?” he asked, turning slightly to look at her.

“Just saying hello.”

“Anything else?” She was quiet for a moment.

“I hope you don’t mind the fact that- I mean, you probably didn’t notice, but I hope you don’t mind that I was looking at your sister most of last period.” Alec sighed.

“You seriously think I didn’t notice that? I’m not stupid.” Why did people always act like this, like he was so oblivious, so unobservant about everything?

“I didn’t mean it like that.” He sighed again, and shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it. And as for Izzy, I don’t mind if you’re interested in her. She seems interested too, if that’s any help to you.”

“Do you think so?”

“Listen, I know my sister like I know my own mind, okay? I may not be able to read many people, but I can read her, and I know when she likes somebody.” Clary smiled. “And yes,” he added. “I know that was a Hamilton reference. I made it on purpose.”

“So you think I should go for it? I should talk to her?”

“I certainly think it’s worth a try.” At that moment, the teacher came in, and Alec turned to the front, effectively ending the conversation.

If Alec was being completely honest, he hated math. It wasn’t that he was bad at it, it was just that it didn’t interest him, which made it difficult for him to really care about it. He knew all too well the stereotypes regarding autistic people and math, but he’d always known that was one stereotype that didn’t apply to him. His things were archery and history, mainly.

There were no ice breakers in this class, just straight to work. Alec had known this would be the case as soon as he’d seen his teacher’s name on his schedule. He’d had this teacher in sophomore year, and he wasn’t the sort of teacher to waste time. That was something he liked about this teacher- that and the fact that he’d come from the UK and had a few interesting stories about the miner’s strikes that had happened there in the 80’s.

After the class was done, Clary spoke to him again.

“What are you in next?”

“History,” he said, almost sighing with relief. “You?”

“Media Studies.” Alec nodded.

“Isn’t that just watching movies? Sounds like an easy A if you ask me.”

“Apparently we have to study a movie, and make one too. It might be an easy A, but I won’t know that until I get there, will I?”

“I suppose so.” He shrugged and picked up his bag, exiting the room, glad that in the time they’d had this conversation the corridor had quietened down a little. Maybe he should do that more often. Not with Clary, of course- he really couldn’t see them being friends, no matter what happened between her and Isabelle- but with other people. This could possibly be a good year for him, he had a feeling about that.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N- This one's a bit longer, but there was a lot I wanted to cover with it. Sorry if it's a bit boring at times- I promise things will pick up in the next chapter.**

**Also, I apologise if I've got anything wrong or just a bit inaccurate here. I suspect I probably have, and for now, I'm just going to call it artistic license.**

Chapter Three

Magnus

It turned out a lot of teachers were running late that day, as Magnus discovered when he entered his third period Media class. It was probably just because it was the first day of school. He grabbed a seat near the front, realising at that point that Clary from Drama was sitting next to him. That could be interesting. To pass the time, he pulled out his phone. After typing his password in- he'd been putting passwords on all his devices since freshman year, just to be on the safe side- he noticed a text from Raphael.

(text) Raphael: Houston, we have a problem.

Magnus quickly typed a response, wanting to know what had happened.

(text) Magnus: What's the problem?

The reply was almost instant.

(text) R: There's this guy in my math class. I think he was trying to hit on me.

(text) M: Do you like him?

(text) R: Maybe? I don't know. It's too early to say. It probably won't work out either way. He's not gonna want the same kind of relationship I do, after all.

(text) M: He might surprise you. Look, I'll talk to you more at lunchtime, alright? We can discuss all this properly then.

(text) R: Alright.

Magnus put his phone away just as the door opened. As soon as he saw who came in, his heart sank. This was not going to end well.

The problem with ending a bad relationship in freshman year, at least in Magnus's experience, was that you ended up still having to see that person every day for another three and a half years. Every year, he hoped something would happen to prevent Camille Belcourt from returning to their school, and every year nothing did. To make matters worse, they were in the same homeroom. Their school had an alphabetizing system when it came to homerooms. This sucked, because it meant that no matter what the cut-off was, he wouldn't be able to avoid having to see her every day.

Still, he'd at least hoped they wouldn't be sharing any classes this year, and until now they hadn't. _Count your blessings,_ he thought. _At least Alec's not in this class- she'd have a field day with that._

It was to his great relief that Camille and a few of her friends sauntered over to the far end of the room, away from him. However, his relief didn't last very long as she looked over at him, perhaps registering for the first time that he was in the room. Despite all his silent wishes, she still stood up and made her way over to him.

"Bane," she said, in place of a more normal greeting. "Outside, now. We need to talk." Clary looked at the two of them for a moment.

"There's no need to speak to him like that." She stood up, and although she was clearly the shortest one out of all three of them, something about her still gave off the impression she wasn't to be messed with. She might even be intimidating, if she wasn't so small.

"Who are you, then? His new girlfriend?"

"No," Clary smiled at him. "I'm his friend, and I don't appreciate people talking to my friends like that." Magnus blinked at her. They'd never even spoken before today, and yet she was coming to his aid and claiming they were friends?

"Whatever. Just come with me, Magnus. We don't have all day." He hated himself for standing up and following her- even after all this time, after everything she'd done, he still found it difficult to say no to her.

As soon as they were out into the corridor, she pushed him against the wall.

"Alright, Bane. I'm only going to say this once," she hissed, poking him hard in the chest with her finger. "Don't give me any trouble this year. This is our last year in this place, and if I have to spend it anywhere but here because you can't keep your mouth shut about something that happened almost three years ago, so help me, you will regret it. You broke that promise once, don't let it happen again. Are we clear?" He nodded. Who was he going to tell anyway? It wasn't like he trusted anyone enough for that. Seemingly satisfied, she stepped back and walked back into the classroom. Taking a minute or two to compose himself, he followed her.

"What was that all about?" Clary said as soon as he sat down.

"Long story, Ginger Spice. I'd rather not go into it." She nodded, then frowned.

"Ginger Spice? Really?"

"Hey, there are worse things I could call you." She sighed.

"Alright. But I'm calling you McFly, as long as you call me Ginger Spice. Two can play at that game." Magnus frowned at her in confusion.

"Why McFly?"

"Because you've always got all these colours in your hair." He nodded, seeing the connection.

"I've never had as many as five, though, but I see where you get that from." He only had two at the moment- black, which was his natural colour, and some gold highlights. After a moment, he shrugged. "Okay, I'll stop calling you Ginger Spice." She nodded.

At that point, the teacher came in. Magnus had had this teacher last year, for English. He was the kind of English teacher that got enthusiastic about Shakespeare, and he always had a quote of the month on his board.

For the first Media lesson, the teacher went over what the course would entail and started teaching them about movie trailers, in preparation for their first assessment. They would have a practice run before that, comparing two trailers in a group, and then they'd have the assessment itself.

When the bell rang, Magnus decided to speak to Clary again. He had geography next, which was in the same corridor as her next class, Religious, so it made sense to walk down together.

"So," he said as they headed out into the corridor. "We're friends, are we?" She blushed.

"Sorry." She was quiet for a moment, then she spoke again. "I've never been able to stand seeing people getting bullied, so I had to step in."

"I wasn't being bullied. I know that's what it looked like, but that wasn't what was happening."

"Still, I had to do something." She sighed. "Sorry if I was too forward."

"Don't worry about it, honestly." They started to descend the stairs to the ground floor.

"This day is going kind of surprisingly," she said. "I'm talking to people I've never talked to before- you, Maia, I even spoke to Alec Lightwood today in Math." That caught Magnus's attention.

"You had a class with Alec?" He hadn't had any classes with Alec this year, apart from Drama.

"Yeah. He was pretty quiet, though we talked a little at the end of the class." She smiled. "I think he thinks I have a crush on his sister."

"Do you?"

"Maybe, I don't know." She shrugged. By now they were coming into the corridor that their classes were in.

"Well, I'll see you around," Magnus said once they reached Clary's class. He waved once, before heading down the corridor to Geography.

Clary

There were only about ten people in the Religious class this year, including Simon. Clary took a seat next to him.

"Was that seriously Magnus Bane you were just talking to?" She nodded.

"We were in Media, and he had Geography, so we decided to walk down together. He's alright, actually. He called me Ginger Spice, and I think he and Camille Belcourt still have some problems or something, but he's not that bad."

"So, you're friends with Magnus Bane and you have a crush on Isabelle Lightwood. I almost feel jealous, Fray."

"Neither of those are true." Okay, maybe the second part was a little bit true. But that was beside the point. "Anyway," she said, trying to change the subject. "How've you been? I saw you talking to that guy you were sitting beside in Math."

"You mean Raphael? Yeah, he's cool. You know, he's never seen any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? We're meeting up at some point so I can show him some. He's going to show me some of this cartoon he watched growing up, too. I think it was called Grizzly Tales."

"I'm pretty sure I saw an episode of that once. It was kinda creepy. This guy tortured his pet spider, then told a story about these two kids who were basically the most obnoxious kids in their year, until a new barber showed up and cut parts of their tongues out. I never watched it again."

"Great," Simon muttered. "Now I feel so much better."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

The lesson once again consisted of a lesson plan- they would do a section on Buddhism, a section on the origins of life and the universe, then finally a section on crime and punishment. Then they started learning about Buddhism.

Clary had to admit, the work for this class was actually pretty interesting. To start with, they were learning about the origins of Buddhism, and Clary found she was actually enjoying taking notes. It was almost a shame when the bell rang and it was time for lunch.

Lunchtime itself flew by. Clary bought her lunch then sat outside with Simon, enjoying the last of the sunshine. At one point she spotted Isabelle with her brother and Jace, and she smiled at her but didn't say hello. Other than that, nothing happened.

After lunch, she had study hall. Spotting Alec near the back and not recognising anyone else, she sat down beside him.

"Hey," she said, and he nodded in response. Setting her bag down, she got out her Buddhism notes, her coloured pens and her second notebook. She'd take this opportunity to start rewriting her notes. As she was doing this, she noticed Alec had gotten out his math homework and was having a look at it. "Wow, you're keen. We just got that today, didn't we?" she whispered, conscious that the teacher was at the front of the room.

"Honestly, I hate math. I just want to get it out the road." Alec's voice was more of a stage whisper. It was less a whisper and more the idea of one.

"Me too. I'm horrible at math, art's more my thing." She was surprised to find they had something in common.

"I just don't like it." Clary noticed the teacher glaring at them, so she ended the conversation there.

The final class of the day was a volunteering class Clary had signed up for to get extra credit. For one period a day, they would be bussed to the nearby middle school and help out in the classes there. Clary had been assigned to a seventh-grade art class Monday to Thursday, and a sixth grade English class on Fridays. She'd be sharing that class with Magnus, which she wasn't sure how to take. On the one hand, it might be fun. On the other hand, though, it said something about the class if it needed two people to help out in it. Still, she could cross that bridge when she got to it.

It turned out they wouldn't start the actual volunteering for a few days at least- they had to be trained a little first, so that they knew what they were doing. This was pretty boring, and Clary was glad when the bell rang and it was finally time to go home. It had been a long day, and it was a relief to leave the school building and get into her mother's car. First days were always the worst, so hopefully, things would only get better from here.


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N- I didn’t expect to have this up so soon, but here we are. I think this is the first Malec-centric chapter I’ve had in this story so far, and I hope you guys enjoy it. Alec’s autism is a bit more obvious in this chapter, if it wasn’t in previous chapters. It still won’t be explicitly stated for a while, though.**

Chapter Four- Alec

When Alec got into his Drama class the next day, he quickly grabbed a seat and sat down with Izzy and Jace. It wasn’t until he’d sat down, though, that he realised that he was almost directly across from Magnus Bane, who was watching him again with a smile. Alec frowned. What was his deal?

“I was going to say don’t look now,” Isabelle whispered, “but I think you already have.” Of course he had- he still wasn’t sure what Magnus wanted, but he was determined to find out. If this was the set up for some kind of cruel joke, he needed to put a stop to it now. Of course, this involved working out if that was what Magnus's intentions actually were, which was easier said than done.

He was so busy trying to decipher what Magnus's smile actually meant that he didn’t hear the teacher calling his name for attendance. Isabelle had to nudge him to get his attention.

“Here,” he said quickly. He hadn’t noticed, at that point, that she’d called him Alexander. He hadn’t noticed yesterday, either. If he had, he would’ve corrected her.

Once attendance was complete, the teacher told them they would be split into groups. She pointed to the four tables which had been set up around the room.

“When you’ve been put into your groups, you will go and sit at one of these tables. Then you will see the three prompts, and get a chance to brainstorm ideas.” She produced a sheet of paper. “Group one will go and sit over here.” She pointed to a table next to the door to the backstage drama room. “Group one has Magnus Bane, Clary Fray, Jace Herondale,” a brief panic went through Alec, as he watched his best friend get up and go sit with Magnus and Clary. He turned his attention back to the teacher, crossing his fingers. “Simon Lewis, Alexander Lightwood-”

“It’s Alec,” he said, already on his feet. The teacher wrote something down on her list, and Alec brought his chair to the table. It wasn’t until he’d sat down, however, that he realised he was next to Magnus. This wasn’t a problem, though- it would give Alec a chance to figure him out.

The last person in their group was Izzy, which was also a relief. Teachers tended to split them up a lot less than they might’ve done if they were identical, but sometimes they still did it anyway. Their group now complete, the teacher then went on to list the other groups. As she was doing this, Magnus turned towards Alec slightly and spoke to him.

“Hello.” Alec turned towards him too, deciding to attempt eye contact for once.

“Hey,” he replied. “Do you want something?” Magnus raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a bit of a loaded question.” Alec frowned in confusion. “I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while, and now we have the opportunity. I’m just taking advantage of that.” This cleared things up a little, but still left a couple of questions.

“Why would you want to talk to me?” He wondered if it was obvious that his guard was up.

“Why not?” Magnus shrugged. “You seem interesting, and I like interesting people.” Alec was about to reply and say that he really wasn’t that interesting when the teacher addressed the class again.

“Alright, now that you are in your groups, I’m going to let you see the three prompts. Once you’ve picked one, you can brainstorm ideas in your group.”

The three prompts were a picture of two people in a forest, which was apparently from the play Let The Right One In, a collection of words such as “betrayal”, “love” and “revenge” and a quote from Jane Eyre.

“Why don’t we do the second one?” Izzy suggested once they’d seen them all. “There’s a lot to work with in that one, lots of potential.” Everyone seemed in agreement. Magnus stood up.

“Where are you going?” Alec asked. He expected Magnus to be annoyed at him, as most people were when he asked questions like that. He was supposed to keep his curiosity to himself when it came to things like this, after all. But Magnus just smiled.

“I’m going to see if the teacher will let us work next door.” He walked over to the teacher’s desk. Isabelle leant over.

“Not to assume anything, but I think he likes you.” Alec shook his head.

“No, he doesn’t. There’s got to be something else going on here. I don’t know what, I just know that it isn’t what you’re thinking.” Magnus returned to the table at that point.

“The teacher says that’s okay.” They all gathered their stuff and went into the second room. Alec was the last one through, and Magnus held the door for him. He was smiling again, and Alec tentatively smiled back, just in case this was what Isabelle thought it was.

The second drama room also doubled up as the stage area used for school plays. It was slightly smaller than the main classroom, and generally a little bit colder. This wasn’t an immediate concern, though.

“I think we should divide this up a little, give ourselves roles. If nothing else, it’ll give us a bit of an edge over the other groups.” Magnus suggested once they’d shut the door.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Clary agreed.

“Glad you think so, Ginger Snap,” Magnus replied, ignoring her frown at the nickname. “Alright, these are just ideas, but why don’t I do make-up, Clary can do costumes, and you three do the story or something.” Alec frowned.

“What about me? What’ll I do?”

“You, pretty boy, can direct.” Alec didn’t know whether to smile at the nickname or frown at the suggestion of giving him such an important role.

“Direct? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I wouldn’t know what to do, I’d make a mess of it, I’d-”

“Relax,” Magnus said, cutting him off mid-panic. “When I say direct, I don’t mean the play. It’s just a fancy way of saying keep us on task and make sure we actually have a finished product at the end of this.”

“Why didn’t you just say that, then?” Alec wasn’t annoyed as such, he just wished that Magnus had been a little more straightforward with him.

“It sounded better.” He shrugged. “Anyway, let’s put that to one side for now and think about what kind of play we’re going to make.”

“A short one?” Jace suggested jokingly. Magnus smiled, and Alec at that moment felt like he couldn’t look away.

“Obviously, but that’s not what I mean.” He paused. “Personally, I’d like to do a love story, but that’s just my own bias talking. I love a good love story- I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic, to be honest.” Alec was sure that this next part- and the smile that went with it- were both aimed at him. “Really, the big tragedy is that I’m still single, because I think I'd probably be a pretty good boyfriend.” Now he was looking straight at Alec. “What about you, Alexander?”

“What about me?” He didn’t bother to correct Magnus- he was too busy trying to keep up with him.

“Do you think I’d be a good boyfriend?” Okay, this was going too far.

“How am I supposed to know?” he snapped. Immediately, he bit his lip, regretting what he’d said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Magnus sighed. “I shouldn’t have asked that.” He held out his hand, obviously intending for Alec to shake it. Alec hesitated a moment before doing so- he wasn’t particularly fond of touching people he didn’t know, but in this situation, it seemed necessary. At that moment, the bell rang. As the others turned to leave, Alec grabbed Magnus's arm, another thing he didn’t normally do.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked when he saw the confused look in Magnus's eyes.

“Sure. Maybe we can talk while we walk to class, though, so we aren’t late. I’m on the top floor in Chemistry.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’m in Math next.” They left the room, and exited through the classroom into the corridor outside.

“What is it you want to talk about?” Magnus asked after a minute or so.

“I wanted to ask what your deal with me is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you actually interested in me, or are you hitting on me as a joke? Like, do you have some sort of bisexual equivalent to gaydar that marks me out as an easy target? I know what everyone thinks of me- you and your friends are probably no different.” Magnus looked taken aback.

“Okay, first of all, I am interested in you. You can believe that or not, but it’s the truth.” He paused, a smile reappearing on his face. “Second, I think the term you’re looking for is bi-fi, and thanks for remembering about that.”

“What can I say- I have a great memory for details,” Alec said, smiling.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Also, don’t assume what I think about you. You literally don’t know what you’re talking about.” By this point, they’d reached Alec’s math class. Alec knew he was probably late, but he lingered a moment all the same. Despite himself, he was actually enjoying being in Magnus's company.

“I’d better go,” he said, not really wanting to. Magnus grabbed his hand, and before Alec could pull away, he started scribbling something on the back.

“Look, why don’t we meet up for coffee at some point?” Alec blinked, trying to process what he’d just said. Had Magnus Bane seriously just asked him out? Deep down, he longed to say yes. But that would mean either coming out to his parents, which he wasn’t ready to do, or it would mean lying to them, which he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. So he forced himself to shake his head, to take a step back.

“I can’t.” He sighed. “Look, I’m flattered and everything, but maybe… maybe we should just be friends.”

“Okay,” Magnus replied, but Alec got the feeling that he wasn’t okay. “If you change your mind, I’ve given you my number. I’ll see you later, Alec.” Just Alec this time, not Alexander. Before Alec could say anything, Magnus had already started walking towards the science department, and Alec was left to go into class. As he sat down, he wasn’t sure what was causing the slight ache in his chest. He just knew it was his fault that it was there.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N- Here’s another update, guys. I’ll probably have these on Mondays and Thursdays where possible, at least for the next three weeks or so. Then I’ll be done with my university prep programme thingy, and I’ll have much more free time.**

**This is my first time writing both Simon and Saphael, so apologies if it’s not very good.**

**Disclaimer: I don’t own Shadowhunters, Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ve linked the three Grizzly Tales episodes I talk about in this chapter at the end, in case anyone wants to see them.**

Chapter Five- Simon 

Raphael was waiting for him when he got out of English at the end of the day. They’d agreed to meet up after school, and since Raphael had a car he was going to drive them back to his place. Simon had tried not to think about it between second period and now, but this was easier said than done. His mind had kept going back to it, whether he was learning about the four noble truths in Buddhism or trying to come up with something for Drama in study hall.

He was thinking about it as he pushed open the door of his English class, and saw Raphael leaning against the lockers outside. How had he gotten there so fast? He must’ve had a class in the same corridor- French, perhaps.

“Hey,” Simon said, walking towards him. Instinctively, he glanced back, wishing that Clary had been in his class. He could’ve used her support right now. As it was, he just had to make do with texting her, and accept the fact that he was going off in the car of a guy he’d never spoken to before yesterday, to watch a strange cartoon.

(text) Simon: Wish me luck, Fray.

(text) Clary: You’ll be fine, Lewis. I’ll see you when you get home, alright?

(text) Simon: Alright.

By this point, they’d reached the ground floor, and were heading towards the door.

“Who were you texting?” Raphael asked, breaking the silence.

"Clary.” He paused. “Do you know her?”

  
“I’ve seen her around.” They were silent for a few more minutes, during which they exited the school and started heading towards the student car park.

“She’s not my girlfriend, in case you were wondering.” He wasn’t sure why he said that. Raphael shrugged.

“Never even crossed my mind.” They’d stopped outside a dark blue car, to which Raphael quickly opened the doors. Simon got into the front seat, wondering if this was really a good idea.

When they reached Raphael’s apartment building, Simon was starting to feel a little more relaxed. They’d ended up talking about their last classes, and overall Simon no longer questioned the logic of his decision.

The apartment itself was nothing too out of the ordinary. The main room had light blue walls, a large dark blue couch and a couple of matching armchairs. It was to this room that Raphael directed him.

“Do you want a drink or anything?” he asked. Simon nodded.

“Just cola, if you’ve got it.”

“Sure.” He paused. “I need to go get my laptop. Make yourself comfortable, I could be a few minutes.” Simon sat down awkwardly on the couch.

About five minutes later Raphael was back, carrying two cans of cola, his laptop tucked under one arm. He sat down next to Simon, set the cans down on the table and opened up his laptop.

“Hope you don’t mind if I go first. I’ve got a few episodes I want to show you.” Simon smiled.

“That’s fine.” Raphael already had a tab open, a YouTube video paused on a picture of a child walking in the rain. “Is this stop motion?” he asked, because that’s what it looked like.

“Parts of it. The introduction is, and the sketches at the beginning and end.” Simon was about to ask what the sketches were but decided not to, thinking it probably had something to do with what Clary had said about the episode she’d seen, with the guy who’d tortured his pet spider.

The introduction consisted of this kid walking towards a creepy movie theatre, where he went in, sat down and was given a bag of what looked at first like popcorn, but was actually flies.

From there, the episode just got weirder. A creepy-looking old guy was having a barbeque and talking about how his pet spider, Spindleshanks, was annoyed with him because he’d said that he didn’t like children- specifically, the taste of them. Both the old guy and the spider were clay puppets. Then the actual story began.

When Simon heard the title- Simon Sulk- he turned to Raphael. His smile told him that he’d done this deliberately. Simon sighed and turned his attention back to the screen.

The story was of a kid called Simon who was upset with his parents for making him move house, and was refusing to take any part in the whole thing. He ended up barricading himself in his room, and his parents had to leave him there, at least for a little while.

“Okay,” Simon said, pausing the episode for a minute. “I’m seeing the bratty kid, but how’s he going to be taught a lesson?” Raphael smiled knowingly.

“You’ll see.” He hit play, and the episode continued. Cartoon-Simon had realised that his parents were going to come back and actually make him leave, and seemed determined to make sure they didn’t. At that point, though, someone entered the house. It appeared to be Cartoon-Simon’s parents, and nothing seemed odd at first. Then they started claiming there were wolves surrounding them, and they were pleading with their son to be let in. After a minute or so of this, Cartoon-Simon opened the door to reveal everything was normal. Then they transformed into trolls and ate both him and his concerned parents.

“That was dark,” Simon muttered once the credits were rolling.

“Want to see another one?” Raphael asked. Despite himself, Simon nodded. Raphael consulted a list on his phone and started typing something into the search bar.

The next episode, Tag, was relatively tame by comparison. In this one, a boy decided to steal another kid’s marbles, and basically became a kleptomaniac as a result. Then, he came across a gym bag full of an expensive football kit, belonging to a guy called Jim Spectre. He decided to steal it, and ended up getting purple spots, which turned into lumps, which turned into name tags. The only way to fix the problem was to put the bag back where he’d found it.

By the third episode, Simon was starting to get used to the strange nature of the show. He no longer found it weird- it was just a bit creepy by kid’s show standards, and even a bit funny at times.

The third episode was about a kid who was always biting things, and who got kicked out of school for it. When his parents said that they hoped he would get bitten by bedbugs, that was exactly what ended up happening.

“Now show me your bedroom!” said the mysterious bug exterminator on the screen. Simon hit pause.

“Are you absolutely sure this is a kid’s show?”

“Simon!” Raphael said in mock surprise.

“What? I’m just saying, if some creepy person tells a kid to show them their bedroom and wants their parents to stay out of it, that has some messed up connotations.”

“Do you ever think before you speak?” Raphael laughed, shaking his head.

“Sometimes.” He smiled, wondering if this could be considered flirting. It probably wasn’t, though. Or at least, if it was, he was the only one aware of it.

“Any other observations that have slipped past whatever brain to mouth filter you have?” Raphael smiled again, and all Simon could think of to say was:

“You’re pretty when you smile.” Simon wasn’t sure why he’d said that. For one thing, it was a weird thing to say to someone you didn’t know. For another, it wasn’t entirely true. Or at least, it wasn’t the whole truth. Raphael wasn’t just pretty when he smiled; he was radiant, his whole face lighting up. It made Simon fall just a tiny bit in love with him. He wasn’t smiling now, though.

“I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work.” Simon was confused.

“What am I trying to do? And why won’t it work?” He realised Raphael must’ve interpreted what he’d said as flirting. He also realised that he was probably either straight, taken or both.

“It just won’t. Trust me, Simon, once you get to know me better and understand more about what I am, you won’t want to be my friend, let alone anything else.”

“Dude, come on, how bad can it be? It’s not like you’re a vampire or something.” He sighed. “I know you don’t know me that well, but believe me, whatever this is you can tell me, and it’ll just stay between us. I won’t even tell Clary.” He wanted to at the very least be friends with Raphael, he couldn't help it.

“Okay,” Raphael said after a while. “I’m going to trust you, just this once.” Despite his best efforts, Simon felt a little bit nervous, wondering just what this could be. “I’m asexual.” Simon hadn’t been expecting that. Nevertheless, he nodded.

“That’s cool.” Raphael blinked at him.

“Seriously?” Simon shrugged and nodded.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t even know what I am- I tried saying I was bi last year, but that didn’t feel right. In the meantime, I decided not to judge others for what they identified as.” Raphael smiled again.

“That’s a good attitude to have.” He paused. “Do you want to finish the episode, and we can talk more about this another time?” Again, Simon nodded, and Raphael hit play.

The rest of the episode involved the biting child getting some particularly vicious bedbugs put into his bed by the creepy exterminator, and for some reason they ended up turning him into a bedbug as well.

They hung out for about an hour after that, Simon showing Raphael a few episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that he thought were particularly good. It was almost a disappointment when he had to go home.

“I’ll see you in school tomorrow,” Simon said as he stood in the doorway, about to leave.

“We should do this again sometime,” Raphael replied, and Simon couldn't help but hope that he meant it. Because regardless of his sexual orientation, Raphael was still pretty good company, and Simon wanted to spend more time with him. He wouldn’t even mind if they were never more than friends. After all, it wasn’t like he was so in love with him that just being friends would be too awkward, was it?

* * *

 

Links To The Episodes

1\. Simon Sulk

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxkSHxKcldw>

2\. Tag

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYdRpFDa5RY>

3\. When The Bed Bugs Bite

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNwaNJ82Q7g>


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N- Hey guys, welcome to chapter six. Apologies if this is a bit boring, I wanted to get the play sorted out in one go so it was out of the way.**

**The play itself is based off one my friends and I made last year in Drama. All but two of the characters’ names come from that play too- Howard and Stewart (originally Harriet and Stacey)- are the only changes.**

Chapter Six:  Isabelle

The next day, the teacher put them in their groups straight away. Once again, Magnus got the teacher to let them work next door. Another group would be sharing the space too, but that was fine. Everything seemed to be fine, just as it had been yesterday. Except for the fact that Magnus had stopped smiling at her brother- or at least, there wasn’t anything particular about the smiles he gave him- and Alec wasn’t looking at him at all.

Alec had talked about it most of the night, sat in her arm chair and talked about how Magnus had asked him out, and the difficult situation that had put him in. Of course, he wasn’t the most reliable narrator, and he did sometimes jump to pretty extreme conclusions. For instance, he seemed to think that coming out would have devastating consequences, and as such he must never do it, regardless of how much he liked somebody.

“Guys, does anyone have any ideas for this thing?” Clary asked, pulling Isabelle from her thoughts. She reached into her bag and pulled out the notebook where she’d written her story outline.

“I do,” she said, opening up the notebook to the page with her outline. Clary smiled, and Izzy couldn’t help smiling back.

“Let’s hear it, then,” Clary replied. Izzy took a second to look at the page one more time before beginning to speak.

“Here’s what I’ve got,” she began. “A man and woman are about to get married. While the man’s having his bachelor’s party, he ends up having a one-night stand with another woman. A few months later, he gets a text from her. His wife spots it, confronts him about the affair… and then kills him.” The others stared at her for a minute. Alec and Jace didn’t seem too surprised, but Clary, Magnus and Simon were looking at her with wide eyes.

“That’s… dark,” Simon said after a minute. Isabelle smiled, which probably just creeped the three of them out even more.

“Has anyone else got any ideas, or will we go with that one?” Alec asked. Nobody did. However, Clary did have a suggestion for how to expand on Izzy’s idea.

“What if he already met his mistress before the bachelor’s party? Like, what if the day he proposed to his girlfriend, he meets this waitress and then they meet again at the party?” Isabelle nodded, smiling at her again.

“I like that.” The others agreed.

“What do we do now?” Alec asked.

“Now we need characters. I’d say we have six, one for each of us. We’ll obviously need the main couple and the guy’s mistress, and maybe they could each have a friend?” Isabelle replied.

“That works,” Jace said. Once again, the others nodded in agreement. “Who’s going to play the roles?” Isabelle turned to Clary.

“There’s two confirmed female parts. How about we take one each, and take it from there?” Clary shrugged.

“Okay. I’ll be the wife, I don’t think I’m hot enough to lure anyone to commit adultery.” Isabelle might have taken it for self-deprecation, if it hadn’t been for the way Clary was looking at her. I may not be that hot, she was saying, but you definitely are.

“That’s fine. Who wants to be the lead?” she asked.

“I volunteer,” Jace said, looking over at Clary. She looked at him too, and shook her head slightly.

“That’s fine.” He smiled at her. The way he was looking at her made it obvious to Isabelle that she wasn’t the only one developing a crush on Clary.

“Alright, Little Red.” Clary rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“Good, now that we’ve got that cleared up, you three can play the friends,” Isabelle said, gesturing to Alec, Magnus and Simon.

“I’ll be Jace’s friend,” Alec said quickly, like he wanted to get in first before the others could say anything.

“Just when you think he can’t get more like Captain America, you find out he’s got his very own Bucky Barnes too.” Simon muttered. A bit louder, he said: “In that case, I’ll be Clary’s friend.” Isabelle nodded and turned to Magnus.

“Alright, Bane, I guess that leaves you and me.” Magnus frowned.

“Could you please not do that? Call me by my last name?”

“Got it.” She addressed the rest of the group. “Should we name our characters, or leave that until next time?” Alec looked at the clock.

“We should have time to name them, if we’re quick. Anyone got any ideas?” Simon raised his hand.

“What about Steven and Margaret for the main couple?”

“Those are a bit old-fashioned,” Jace pointed out.

“Hey, it was that or Steve and Peggy.” Isabelle caught the reference, but didn’t say anything. Alec did, though.

“I understood that reference,” he said, and Simon smiled at him.

“Is everybody okay with Steven and Margaret?” Isabelle said, and once again everyone nodded.

Over the next ten minutes, they decided to name the girlfriend Tiffany, Steven’s best friend John, Margaret’s best friend Howard- another Marvel reference- and Tiffany’s best friend Stewart. By the time the bell rang, they were ready to start fine-tuning the plot and possibly rehearsing tomorrow. Overall, Isabelle was feeling pretty good as she headed towards Chemistry.

* * *

 

Isabelle had only been lab partners with Magnus for two days, and so far they hadn’t talked beyond what was necessary for their work. Today, however, Izzy thought that she ought to change that, even just so she could apologise for earlier.

“I’m sorry if I upset you earlier,” she said once they’d both sat down.

“It’s fine, Isabelle. Just don’t do it again, alright?” She nodded.

“Alright.” She paused. “Can I ask why it’s a problem? You don’t have to tell me, I just wondered.”

“It’s a long story, and not one I like sharing.” He looked straight ahead as he said it, and Isabelle decided not to press him further.

They didn’t say another word to each other until the end of the lesson. Then, on their way out, Magnus spoke to her again.

“Is your brother seeing anyone?” She wasn’t even surprised- she’d had a feeling that something like this would happen.

“No, he isn’t. And he’s not straight, either, in case you were wondering. He’s...” For a moment, she thought about telling Magnus the truth, but decided that it would be best to leave this to Alec. It was his thing to share, after all. Instead, she said, “He’s complicated.”

“What sort of complicated?”

“The kind that sees things differently, I guess. As far as I can tell, he sees dating any guy, including you, and coming out as linked. He’s too afraid of the latter to even think about the other.” It didn’t help that their parents- particularly their mother- had never voiced much support for gay people, which meant, in Alec’s eyes, that she wouldn't support him being gay. That was enough to put him off coming out to her.

“I see.” He paused. “Do you think I’ve got a chance, though?”

“Maybe. Just try being his friend for now, and see how that goes.” By this point, they had reached Isabelle’s next class, Business Ed. Magnus pulled out his phone to check the time, and Isabelle wanted to roll her eyes, because of course Magnus Bane would have a gold iPhone.

“I’d better go, I’m late for Media.” He looked almost reluctant to go, but nevertheless he turned and started walking down the corridor. Quickly, Isabelle opened the door and went into her class.


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N- Hey, guys. This ended up being the longest chapter I’ve written for this fic, though there may still be longer ones to come. I hope you guys enjoy it! Most of the stuff regarding the yearbook- the size of the committee, for instance- is based on experience, so apologies if it’s not completely accurate for an American yearbook.**

**Also, once again, I would like to make it clear that Clary’s view of Alec is in no way indicative of my own views regarding autistic people, and she will not always be this judgemental towards him.**

Chapter Seven: Clary

“Remember to get your permission slips handed in for the temple trip as soon as possible,” their teacher said as the bell rang. Clary wrote down a reminder in her notebook and gathered her books. She headed out into the corridor and started to make her way towards the lunch hall. Just ahead of her, she could see Jace from Drama, and she waved to him. He noticed, and stopped to allow her to catch up with him.

“Hey,” she said once she’d caught up to him.

“Hey.” He smiled at her. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk to you, actually.”

“What did you want to talk about?” He was still smiling, and it was starting to make her uncomfortable.

“I was thinking, since we’re supposed to be playing a married couple in this project, maybe we could go out some time, to get to know each other a little better?” Clary shook her head. “Why not?” She took a step back, trying to think of the best way to word this.

“No offence, but I don’t like you that way.” She took a deep breath, deciding to be honest with him. Jace didn’t seem like a bad guy, maybe he’d understand. “I don’t actually like any guys that way, at all. I’m more interested in girls.” Jace nodded. He seemed disappointed, but other than that there was no obvious negative reaction.

“Oh. That’s fine,” he said eventually. “Sorry, I should’ve asked.”

“It’s okay.” She frowned. “I didn’t think you’d take it that well- most guys don’t.” He shrugged.

“Maybe I’m not like most guys.” He was smiling again, but Clary didn’t feel as uncomfortable this time.

“Maybe.” By this point, they’d reached the end of the corridor. She spotted Simon and waved to him. “I’m gonna go get lunch. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Jace nodded and Clary started walking towards Simon.

When Clary had signed up to be in the yearbook committee, she hadn’t realised just how small the committee itself would be. Of course, it shouldn’t have been that big a surprise- Alicante High wasn’t very big in terms of its student body, and there were only a couple hundred kids in senior year, being generous. Clary knew most of them by name and face, but wasn’t really friends with anyone except Simon- and now, possibly, Jace, Alec, Isabelle and Magnus.

There were only about a dozen kids in the room when she came in, as well as two teachers. One taught the other Religious class, and it was her classroom they were using. The other taught Computing. Among the kids, Clary was surprised to see Isabelle, and before she could think better of it, she went to sit next to her.

“Hi,” she said, smiling brightly at her.

“Hi,” Isabelle replied, and then the Religious teacher- Miss Fitzpatrick- spoke.

“Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s begin.” She started by showing them the website they were going to use to make the yearbook. “The software can get a bit temperamental if more than one person is on at once, so it would be a good idea to set up a group chat online, so that you can let each other know when you’re signing in and out.” She showed them how to work the various features of the software- picking templates, creating textboxes, etc. Once she was done, the other teacher, Mr Livingstone, addressed them.

“The only other thing we can do at this stage is appoint our yearbook photographer and start getting everyone to fill out profiles.” He produced a stack of paper. “Would anyone like to volunteer to take these round at home-room?” A few hands went up, one of them being Isabelle’s, and they were handed smaller stacks of paper. Once this was done, they were dismissed. Once they were out in the corridor, Clary decided to speak to Isabelle.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked, and fortunately Isabelle nodded. She led Clary down the corridor, to the end where it met the corridors going along to the office and cafeteria. Here, the main door to the drama classroom was located, up a small flight of stairs. “Izzy, we can’t go in here.” She wasn’t sure why she’d called her Izzy, it had just felt right.

“It’s fine- the teacher doesn’t mind.” Clary was surprised to see that Simon, Jace, and Alec were there too, eating lunch. Jace and Alec were talking about something, and Simon was sitting on a desk and reading. Isabelle handed each of them a profile, and checked the door leading to the stage room, as Simon had decided to call it. When it opened, she stepped inside, gesturing for Clary to follow her.

“Are you absolutely sure this is okay?” Isabelle nodded.

“Absolutely. The only downside is the others may hear us, but it’s better than nothing.” She grabbed two chairs and brought them to the middle of the room, before sitting down in one of them. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Clary remembered what Alec had said, and decided not to beat around the bush.

“I wondered if you wanted to go out sometime? Maybe go for coffee or something?”

“Do you mean like a date, or as friends?” She thought about that for a moment.

“Maybe we could go as friends first, and see how that works?” Isabelle nodded.

“Yeah, that works. Does Tuesday evening at six work for you? That’s the first day I’ll be free.”

“I’ll ask my mom, but it should be fine. Where will we meet up?”

“How about the bowling alley? I know there’s only two of us, but it might be fun.” Clary smiled and nodded. She and Simon used to go bowling all the time when they were younger, so she was pretty good at it.

“Cool. So, I’ll see you later, alright?” Clary nodded again, and Isabelle stood up. Before she left, she handed Clary a profile for the yearbook. Then she went back through to the main drama room. After a minute, Clary got up and joined her and the others. She wasn’t sure why she was smiling- after all, this didn’t mean anything, not necessarily- but she couldn't stop.

When they got to volunteering, the teacher told them that they were ready to go to their assigned classes and start helping out. Their training hadn’t involved much- just setting up some general rules and filling out a few questionnaires that the teacher had tried to convince them weren’t completely useless.

She’d been on the bus that would take them to the middle school a few minutes when, to her surprise, Magnus Bane slid into the seat next to her. Part of her wondered if he’d done this because they were helping the same class, and it had seemed sensible.

However, she suspected it also had something to do with the fact that Alec was sitting across the aisle. He had his bag on the seat beside him, and he was sitting with his headphones on, staring out the window. She could kind of understand why Magnus was looking at him- a lot of people had had a crush on Alec at the start of junior year. Of course, that was before everyone had realised that he was still just as weird as he’d been before the summer, and they’d all went back to ignoring him.

Maybe Magnus liked weird guys, or maybe he was too smitten to notice just how far from normal Alec was. Whatever it was, Clary figured it was none of her business. Instead, she turned to gaze out the window, wondering just how bad their class was going to be.

As they filed off the bus, Alec got in line behind her.

“Careful you don’t get mistaken for one of the students and left behind,” he said, the flat tone of his voice making it hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

“I hear the ceilings are a little lower here, careful you don’t bump your head,” she shot back. It was a lame comeback, she knew that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

“You know, if either of you get mistaken for a student here, I don’t think your respective heights will have anything to do with it.” Magnus commented before getting off the bus. Clary followed, then Alec, who quickly headed towards the entrance of the school. Magnus then turned to Clary. “Alright, Biscuit, let’s go.”

“Okay, that one I don’t mind. Still a little weird, but at least it doesn’t reduce me to my hair colour.” She smiled, and headed into the building. This had been her middle school, as well as Simon’s. Magnus had gone to one a little further upstate, apparently, and Alec, Isabelle and Jace had gone to one all the way in Queens. Apparently they’d moved to Brooklyn after eighth grade, for reasons none of them wanted to discuss. Clary herself hadn’t been to Queens in over ten years, not since her mom had stopped trying to get her to visit her father and brother, who still lived there.

Pushing that to one side, she led the way towards the English department. Alec, who was still in the main entrance hall trying to find a map or something- honestly, why couldn't he just ask the receptionist if he was lost?- tagged along with them.

“I think my brother’s in your class,” he said, as they headed upstairs to the first floor. “His name’s Max.” Clary wasn’t exactly sure why they were being told this, but she accepted it as a little tidbit of information that he’d felt like sharing. Magnus made more of an effort to engage, though- asking questions about what Max looked like, what he was like in class, that sort of thing. The answers spilled out of Alec, almost too fast for Clary to keep up. Instead, she concentrated on getting them to class.

When they arrived at the English department, Alec admitted that he’d been trying to find the seventh grade History class he’d been assigned.

“If you’re looking for History, it’s round the corner. If you know which room you’re in, you should be able to find it easily enough. There’s signs marking the different departments, too, so it’s pretty hard to miss.” He frowned.

“Could you show me, so I know for sure where I’m going?” She shook her head.

“I have to get to class. Like I said, it’s really hard to miss.” He still looked troubled. “Alec, seriously, it’s not that difficult. I’m sure you can figure it out.” Without another word, she pushed open the door to the classroom and went in. After a minute, Magnus joined her.

“Could you lay off him a little?” he asked once the door had closed. A couple dozen kids stared at them, and Clary smiled at them before looking back at Magnus.

“What? I gave him directions, he’s perfectly capable of following them. It’s not like I said anything really mean. I just made it clear that I had somewhere I needed to be.” He rolled his eyes.

“Let’s discuss this later, and focus on getting through this lesson.” It was then that the teacher spoke to them.

“If you two are quite finished.” She then addressed the class. “This is Clary Fray and Magnus Bane. They’re seniors from Alicante High School, and they will be helping us on Friday afternoons this year.” Clary looked around the room. The kids sat in groups of various sizes, scattered around the room. Among them, she recognised Max Lightwood, from Alec’s description. However, there wasn’t much about him that indicated what he was like.

According to the teacher, the class had started doing ten minute writing exercises, because she wanted to encourage them to develop a regular writing habit. The two of them were welcome to join in, she said, as there wasn’t really anything else to do. Grabbing a table at the back of the room, they sat down across from each other. The teacher gave the class a prompt- they had to describe one new person they’d met since the start of the year, not counting teachers. Clary decided to write about Isabelle, because even though they’d been in classes together for over three years, they’d never actually talked to each other until this year.

Once they were done, the teacher got some of them to read what they’d written out loud. They’d been told not to use names, but to try and let their descriptions speak for themselves. Some had found this trickier than others, and had ended up naming the person they were writing about by mistake.

“Would either of you like to read what you’ve written?” the teacher asked Magnus and Clary after about five kids had read their descriptions. Magnus volunteered, though Clary wouldn’t have minded going either.

“This year, I got a chance to talk to somebody I’ve been wanting to get to know since last September. He’s always seemed like a mystery, and maybe that’s part of what drew me in. I want to get to know him better, though. I don’t want to be like so many of my classmates, who dismiss and ignore him- instead, I want to put the effort into understanding him better.” He set down his notebook, indicating that he was finished. Clary frowned, knowing exactly who he’d been talking about. Max had realised too, and was watching him curiously.

“That was very good, Magnus,” the teacher said. “However, the instructions were for a physical description.” He nodded, smiling politely.

“Sorry. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” The teacher then addressed the class again.

“Alright, we’re going to start reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde today, and then we’re going to answer some questions on what we’ve read.” Clary’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected them to be reading something like that at such a young age. However, when the teacher handed out the copies of the book- a simplified play version- things made a little more sense.

Again, there wasn’t much for the two of them to do, beyond watch the room and make sure everyone was behaving. While the teacher’s attention was on the students, Magnus passed Clary a note under the table.

 _I think you should apologise to Alec later._ Clary checked that the teacher wasn’t looking before scribbling a reply and passing it back.

 _Alright._ She wasn’t going to fight him there- it was good to try and keep things civil, at least until this project was done. Plus, if it got back to Isabelle that she’d talked to her brother like that, it definitely wouldn’t go down well.

In the end, they didn’t have to do much beyond collect the books in and hand out their workbooks so they could answer questions that the teacher wrote on the board. A couple of the kids needed help with this, but between Clary, Magnus and the teacher, they were able to help them out.

Clary didn’t get to talk to Alec until they were getting on the bus to go back to school. He didn’t seem too upset, but it was hard to tell.

“Fray, I see you managed not to get left behind.” She wasn’t sure what to make of him using her last name, since that had always been Simon’s thing, but she let it slide.

“Lightwood, I’m guessing you managed not to hit your head.” He smiled, which surprised her. Then she said, “I’m sorry about earlier. Did you find your class okay?” He nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. And yeah, I did.” They reached the seats they’d been in earlier, which had been in the middle, though nearer to the front than the back.

“I wonder if this is a good time to tell you I’m going bowling with your sister next week.” Alec slid into his seat, once again dumping his bag on the seat beside him.

“Izzy already told me about that, actually. I hope you have fun, both of you.” Clary nodded, sliding into her seat across the aisle from him.

“Thanks,” she replied. At that point, Magnus got into the seat beside her. He didn’t say anything, but Clary knew that he’d heard everything, and was pleased they were getting along again.

They missed the school bus, but Magnus offered them both a ride home. Clary accepted the offer, but Alec didn’t.

“My mom gave me money for a cab,” he said when asked how he planned on getting home.

“Will you be okay waiting on your own, or do you want us to stay with you?” Magnus asked.

“No, it’s fine.” He seemed keen for them to go, so after a moment they did.

By the time Clary got home, she was so tired that she lay on her bed a full ten minutes before getting up to start on her homework. It had been another very full-on day, but she tried to concentrate on the positives, which at that moment consisted mainly of Isabelle Lightwood. She smiled to herself, wishing that it could be Tuesday right now.


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N- Hey, guys. I don’t know how much of this fic I’ll get done before September eleventh, which is when I start university. I’ve got this part pretty much all planned out, so I’ll do my best to get it out as soon as I can. However, I won’t promise anything. I won’t stop updating once I start university, of course, but updates will probably be even fewer than they currently are. I’ll try to work out some kind of balance, though.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I own nothing, including the songs I mention.**

Chapter Eight- Isabelle

It was quarter past six on Tuesday evening, and Isabelle was almost ready to go bowling with Clary. As could’ve been expected, her mother had been critical of pretty much everything from her outfit to her decision to go at all.

 _You should be concentrating on your studies, Isabelle- you have a 4.0 GPA to keep up, after all. Is it really appropriate to wear heels that high to a bowling alley? Is it really appropriate to wear a skirt that_ _short in public?_ And finally, _I thought this was just a friendly game- why are you getting dressed up like it’s a date_?

Isabelle often wondered just why her mother was so hard on her. Was it because of Alec, because of his autism? Did she think that trying to have a perfect daughter would balance things out? Or was this always going to happen, regardless of how they’d turned out?

“What are you thinking about?” Alec asked. He’d been sitting on her bed for the last ten minutes, while she did her makeup.

“Wondering why Mom is so critical of me,” she replied without missing a beat. There was no point lying to him- he’d always figure out what she meant.

“I’ve never understood that either. I mean, with everything you’ve achieved so far, everything you can do, she should be prouder.” Isabelle smiled at him in the mirror.

“Thanks.” She glanced at her phone. “I’d better go. Can you do me a couple of favors while I’m gone?” He nodded. “First, fill in that yearbook form. The sooner we get those done, the better. Second, and this is more for you than me, I want you to call Magnus.”

“What? Why would I want to-”

“Because you like him, and he likes you. I’m not saying you have to ask for his hand in marriage, I just think you should talk to him.” She pulled on her high heeled boots and got to her feet, resting a hand on her desk to steady herself.

“How do you know he likes me?” He didn’t deny the first part, and she smiled. Before responding, she grabbed her jacket.

“We’re lab partners. He asked me if you were seeing anyone last week. Besides, I see the way he looks at you in Drama. It’s not exactly subtle.” Alec frowned.

“Did he really ask that?” She nodded. “Maybe I’ll talk to him, then.” Isabelle smiled at that. Picking up her bag and her phone, she left the room.

Clary was in the living room when Isabelle entered, along with a tall, black man, who was talking to her mother. She didn’t mean to, but she caught a bit of what they were saying.

“When did you and Jocelyn get married?”

“A couple of years ago. We would’ve invited you and Robert, but we didn’t think you’d be keen. I mean, since you agreed with Valentine when he talked about black people and white people getting married and everything.”

“Lucian, that was eighteen years ago. I thought you’d have moved on by now, let all that go. For all you know, we don’t think that anymore.”

“First of all, he was my best friend. He was the reason I went to that college to begin with. That’s not the kind of betrayal you just get over, no matter how long it’s been. Second, I realize that you may have changed your views, but I didn’t want to take that chance.” At that point, her mother noticed Isabelle standing in the doorway.

“I don’t think we should be discussing this right now,” she said to Lucian. To Isabelle, she said, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Have you got money?” Isabelle nodded, and went to stand with Clary, who looked up at her.

“I like your boots,” she said, smiling. Isabelle blushed lightly, then glanced quickly at her mother to see if she’d noticed. She might be slightly more comfortable with her sexuality than Alec, but that didn’t mean she was keen to let her mother know just yet.

“Thanks.” She was about to say something else when Lucian approached them.

“So you’re Isabelle.” He held out a hand, and she shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Fray.”

“It’s actually Mr. Garroway, but you can call me Luke.” He smiled at them both. “Are you two ready to go?” They nodded, and Isabelle turned to her mother one more time.

“I’ll be home by nine thirty, alright? I’ll phone you if anything happens.” Her mother still looked like she didn’t approve, but she didn’t say anything else, so Isabelle smiled at her and left.

When they were in the car- Clary had mentioned that her stepdad was in the police, so Isabelle had been almost disappointed that he drove a normal, dark blue car- they both sat in the back seat. After a few minutes, Isabelle spoke.

“I didn’t know you knew my mom.” Luke shrugged.

“We met in college. Your parents, Clary’s parents and a few other people, we were all this group. Clary’s father was the leader, and I think it was meant to be about activism, but it ended up going too far.” Isabelle got the feeling that he wasn’t telling them the full story, but she decided not to ask any more questions.

The rest of the journey, Clary told them about something that happened during her volunteering class that afternoon. She had a seventh-grade art class Monday to Thursday, and right now they were painting still life. Isabelle knew she was only talking about a class of thirteen-year-olds painting bananas, but there was still something about her that prevented her from looking away. It was hard to explain, but it was like she glowed from within. It was like looking at the moon. At that moment, Isabelle knew, without a doubt, she was screwed. Any chance of being just friends was slipping away in front of her. Her only hope was that Clary didn’t feel the same way.

Luke dropped them off outside the bowling alley, and they walked in together. Part of Isabelle wanted to hold hands, or link arms or something. However, she wasn’t sure if they were at that level yet.

The bowling alley itself was relatively small. The lanes were at the back, the cashier’s desk was in front of them, there was a counter serving food and drinks to the side and most of the free space was taken up with arcade-type games, as well as air hockey and pool. There were benches in front of the lanes, and a row of TVs between the benches and the lanes. They were all playing the same music video- I Knew You Were Trouble, by Taylor Swift. Isabelle hoped that wasn’t a bad omen.

“What’s your shoe size?” Isabelle asked. She didn’t mind doing all the talking- she’d done it for Alec all the time when they were younger.

“Five,” she said, before approaching the desk. “I’ll pay for the game since it was my idea.” She did, and next thing Isabelle knew, they were walking towards lane two, which was at the far end of the alley. When they got there, they changed their shoes. Even without her heels, Isabelle was still taller than Clary, though it wasn’t as glaringly obvious now.

“Do you want to go first?” Isabelle asked as she sat down to set their game up.

“Sure. Just so you know, I’m pretty good at this- I go all the time with Simon.”

“You guys go pretty far back, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Clary replied, smiling again. The glow was back, though fainter this time. “He’s like my brother. Well, the brother I wish I had, anyway.” Isabelle wondered what that meant, but decided not to ask.

“Jace is a bit like that. He’s been friends with Alec since we were six, and since we’re kind of a package deal, the three of us ended up being like family.” By now, she’d set the game up, and it was Clary’s turn to play.

From that point on, there wasn’t really time to talk. One of them was always up bowling, making conversation impossible. They needed more players, Isabelle realized after the second round. Clary was already ahead of her- she hadn’t been lying when she’d said she was good. During the next round, Isabelle pulled out her phone. She went to her facebook and found the group chat that she, Clary, Jace, Alec, Simon, and Magnus had set up while they worked on their project. It was meant to be just for the project- brainstorming ideas, planning out scenes, that sort of thing. Still, she sent a message to the group anyway.

(Isabelle): Any of you guys interested in going bowling when this is done?

She didn’t check her phone again until the game was completely done- Clary won- but the responses were all positive.

After the game, they went over to the small eating area and ordered burgers and fries. Isabelle paid, since Clary had paid for the game.

“What do you want to do now?” Clary asked after a minute. Right at that moment, the only thing Isabelle wanted to do was go off into some corner with this girl and make out with her, but at the same time, she was worried about what would happen if she did that.

“Maybe we should play another game. Maybe this time I’ll actually win.” That seemed like a safer idea. Clary agreed, and once they were finished with their meal, they went back to the desk and paid for another game.

Isabelle did a bit better this time. She still lost, but at least she came a bit closer. This time, she managed a couple of spares, and the ball only went in the gutter maybe five times, rather than a dozen, like it had last time.

When they were done, they sat together on the bench. The music video that was playing now was Into You, by Ariana Grande. Izzy wouldn’t admit it, but she liked this song. She checked her phone, and saw it was almost nine o’clock. They didn’t have long. She turned to Clary, all set to point this out. Just as she was about to speak, though, Clary leaned in and kissed her. Isabelle pulled away after a minute. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kiss her, she just wasn’t sure about doing it here.

“Come on,” she said, standing up and taking Clary’s hand. She led them into the bathroom, which was empty. For a moment, they just stood facing each other, then Isabelle bent her head and kissed Clary on the lips.

She hadn’t been expecting fireworks- after all, they didn’t really know each other that well, and she’d never really been one for falling in love quickly like this. However, something about Clary made her forget all of that. Instead, she wrapped her arm around Clary, and buried her free hand in her hair.

When they eventually broke apart, Isabelle didn’t say anything for a minute or two.

“That was…” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Clary didn’t say anything either, she just smiled. After a minute, Isabelle forced herself to take a step back and check her phone again. It was now ten past nine- five minutes until Luke would come to get them. “We’d better go.” Clary nodded, and they made their way back to their bench.

“So, what do we do now? I mean, should we make this an official thing, or…” Clary asked as they pulled on their coats and picked up their bags.

“I don’t know. I mean, I kinda want to, but, maybe we should sleep on it. Maybe we should go home and think about it, then talk about it tomorrow at school.”

“That seems fair.” They made their way to the exit, just as Luke’s car pulled up in front of the building. It was just as well- it was a cold night, and Isabelle hadn’t wanted to stand around outside for too long.

When she got home, Alec’s complete yearbook form sat on her desk. She glanced through it, and couldn’t help smiling. He’d paraphrased a line from Guardians Of The Galaxy as his quote- “Your jokes don’t go over my head. Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.” He’d picked one of the teachers from the support department as his favorite teacher, and a quote from his History teacher last year as his favorite teacher quote. Isabelle smiled, and folded the form in half before tucking it into her bag. She still hadn’t completed hers, but maybe she could do that tomorrow.

By the next morning, she’d come to a decision about Clary. If it was okay with her, she would like to try dating. She wouldn’t tell anyone in her family apart from Alec, though. At least, not at first.

When she got to school, she found Clary standing at her locker.

“Hey,” she said. Pulling out a book from her locker and shutting the door, Clary turned to look at her.

“Hey,” she replied, smiling already.

“So, I thought about what happened last night, and, if you don’t mind, I’d like to make this official.” Clary looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright.” She took hold of Isabelle’s hand and wrote a phone number on the back. “That’s my number,” she said, by way of explanation. Isabelle took her hand and wrote her number, too. She was about to say something when the bell for homeroom went.

“I’ll see you in Drama.” Isabelle didn’t want to go, but somehow she made herself walk towards the English department, where her homeroom was located. As she walked, she couldn’t shake the smile on her face, and she wasn’t in any mood to try. She wasn’t sure how long this good mood would hold out, but she was determined to enjoy it while it did.


	9. Chapter 9

**A.N- Hey, guys. I’ve actually had part of this chapter written for a while, which is why it’s come so quickly after chapter eight. Sorry it’s a bit shorter than the previous chapter, but hopefully you still enjoy it. These next two chapters are kind of Malec- centric, just as a heads up.**

**Also, the scene that is mentioned in this scene is based off a scene from the play my friends and I made last year. The dialogue in the original was different, but the idea was much the same.**

**Disclaimer: Alec's views on mental illness, much like Clary's views on autism, do not reflect my own.**

Chapter Nine- Alec

In the end, Alec did text Magnus the night Isabelle went out with Clary. They’d talked a little bit, but at no point had Alec addressed what Isabelle had said. He’d thought about it- he’d thought about saying, “My sister thinks you’ve got a crush on me, what’s up with that?” In the end, though, he hadn’t, and he still wasn’t sure why.

He still wasn’t sure about Magnus, if he was honest. He did like him, that was certain. However, he wasn’t sure how much he liked him, or whether or not he would consider dating him.

Certainly, he’d been paying a bit more attention to Magnus this year than he had before. He told himself it didn’t mean anything- after all, Magnus had started paying attention to him first. He was only returning the favour. It may have also had something to do with the fact that he liked Magnus's smile, and thought he had nice eyes, and… he shook his head. This was stupid. Even if he did have feelings for Magnus, was this really the time to be starting a relationship? After all, graduation was less than a year away. Who knew what would happen after that? Then there was the issue of his parents finding out… Honestly, it was all a mess.

It was about a week after Clary and Isabelle’s bowling date that Magnus didn’t show up for Drama. Alec watched the door for a good ten minutes, even after Clary said that he hadn’t shown up to homeroom. Maybe he was just running super late. By the end of the lesson, though, he was forced to realise that Magnus most likely wasn’t coming into school that day.

Alec knew that he shouldn’t feel this… lost. After all, he hardly knew Magnus. For all he knew, this could be perfectly normal for him. However, as he sat on the bus waiting to go to volunteering, he found that not even his music was enough to calm his mind. He kept glancing across the aisle, as if he expected Magnus to just materialise out of thin air, and the walk to his history class wasn’t the same without him. The day before, Magnus had been talking about his friend Tessa, who’d moved to London at the end of eighth grade, and the two boys she’d befriended. Both were hopelessly in love with her, and one, it turned out, was related to Jace. He’d hoped to talk about them a little more, but now he couldn't.

Alec might have felt a bit better if Magnus would just answer a text or something. He’d called during lunch, but he’d gotten no reply. Eventually, he decided that Magnus was probably sick, and he’d be back in when he was better.

If Magnus had been sick, then his recovery time was much faster than Alec had expected, or thought possible. The next day, when he went into Drama, Magnus was there, sitting beside Simon. The six of them sat together now before class. Clary sat on Magnus's other side, with Isabelle between her and Jace. Alec grabbed a seat and sat beside Jace, though he watched Magnus curiously.

It felt like he was back to square one in terms of figuring Magnus out. He was sitting in his chair, examining his nails like nothing was wrong. Maybe he hadn’t been sick, then. Maybe he’d just had an appointment or something.

Their rehearsal went well. Today, they worked on a scene where Jace’s and Isabelle’s characters met at Jace’s Bachelor party. Alec didn’t have to do much- a few deliberately silly dance moves, a couple of lines of dialogue, nothing too difficult. The rest of the scene, he had to listen to Jace tell a story about how his dog fell in a puddle, and how both he and the dog had matching jackets.

The only problem he had was when Isabelle and Magnus showed up. He’d been supposed to say something along the lines of “Yeah, what were the chances?” after Magnus's character said, “Fancy seeing you here!” However, Magnus was smiling at him, and the words caught in his throat. Instead, he just smiled back and waved.

When the bell went, Magnus caught Alec as he was leaving to go to Math. For a moment, Alec thought they were going to walk up together, and he felt his heart lift involuntarily. However, that wasn’t quite it.

“Do you need any help with your lines? If you want, I can practice with you.” Alec blushed slightly, though he wasn’t sure why.

“I’ll think about it,” he replied, then turned and left.

They’d all been meeting in the drama room for lunch lately, and today Magnus had decided to join them. The idea was that they’d be able to get a bit of rehearsal time in for their play, which they’d decided to call A Few Nights Before. Alec decided to take the opportunity to ask Magnus about yesterday.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked. Magnus nodded.

“Sure.” They went through to the stage room, even though Alec knew that the others would hear at least some of what they were saying. It was better than nothing.

“Where were you yesterday? Were you sick?” Alec asked, once they were alone. Magnus shrugged.

“Something like that. I had to take a mental health day- it happens sometimes, when I’m really low and I can’t manage school.” Alec blinked at him. For some reason, that explanation made him angry.

“A mental health day? Are you serious? Do you know how many days I’ve wanted to skip class because I couldn't manage it? And yet I have never, not once, acted on it? Do you know the shit I’ve had to put up with over the years, most if not all of which happened at school, and I never once skipped a day?” He sighed. “It must be great to be so rich- you can take all the days off you like, and it won’t affect your chances, because you’re just some trust fund kid who’ll get into college no matter what.” Magnus glared at him.

“First of all, I appreciate that school is tough for everyone, and whilst I admire your strength and everything, did it ever occur to you that some people have had to deal with worse things than a few mean comments and bullying? And that they might need time out to cope? Second, that’s rich coming from you, Lightwood. Aren’t you the one who’s always ducking out of class at the first hint of noise?” Alec stared at him in confusion. “What?” he asked. “You thought I wasn’t aware of that? We’ve been sharing classes for over three years, you really thought I didn’t notice you leaving? I didn’t say anything because it didn’t concern me, but I did notice.” He paused to get his breath back. “Finally, don’t bring money into this. It has no place in this conversation. For one thing, you’ve got your facts wrong- I’m definitely not as rich as you seem to think I am. I don’t have guaranteed entry into college, I just haven’t had to save up for years in order to go. Next time, think before you start talking shit.”

“A few mean comments? The slightest hint of noise? Are you serious? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?” He shook his head. “You know, I was starting to think you were alright. That I could trust you enough to tell you why I am the way I am. But now, I’m not sure I should bother.”

“I was beginning to think the same about you.” He sighed. “Now I realise you’re even more insensitive and cruel than everyone else.” He wiped his eyes, leaving a couple of small black marks on his cheeks. “You know the worst part, though? I was falling in love with you. I thought you were different- that you were good and kind and someone I could love. Seems I was wrong.” Alec wanted to protest, to explain himself, to do or say _something_ , anything. But nothing came. Instead, all he could do was watch as Magnus walked away, leaving him alone.

Alec had always wondered what heartache felt like, but now he did. Or at least, it was the best word he could use to describe the cold, sharp pain in his chest, as he tried to work out where he’d went wrong.


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N- I’m on a roll this week! As of right now, I haven’t written any of chapter eleven, and I don’t know how long it’ll take to get done. Hopefully, it’ll be done this week, but I won’t promise anything.**

**Also, I’m sorry that the last chapter ended on such a sad note. Hopefully, this one will be better. I would also like to take a moment to say that this is my first time writing a story dealing with mental health, so apologies if I make any mistakes. I’ve had issues with mental health when I was younger, but that doesn’t make me an expert. So, if I get something wrong, feel free to call me out on it. With that being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and it goes some way to make up for chapter nine. Once again, I own nothing.**

Chapter Ten- Magnus

Magnus refused to speak to Alec for the rest of the day. When it was time to go to volunteering, he found an empty seat at the front of the bus, and when they reached the school, he walked straight to class, not waiting for Alec to catch up with him.

Had it really just been two days ago that they’d walked these halls together? Had it really just been two days ago that he’d thought about holding Alec’s hand, getting lost in his eyes, maybe kissing him? The sad thing was, he still wanted to do all of those things. If he was being completely honest, he should’ve expected that. He’d been in love with Alec for over a year- he should’ve known that wouldn’t disappear in a day. That was why he had to distance himself for now, until he was over him.

That night, Magnus ended up ranting to both Tessa and Cat about what had happened. They couldn't really do anything- Tessa was in London, and Cat was in California. Still, it was good to talk to them. Both were ready to fight Alec, and even though that wasn’t possible, he still appreciated the thought.

The next day, Magnus continued to ignore Alec. He didn’t want to even look at him, because he was worried that if he did, then his resolve might break. Fortunately, they weren’t rehearsing today. The teacher wanted them to work on the written aspect of their project, and whilst they had to sit with their group, they didn’t have to talk to them, which was a blessing.

Later, at lunchtime, Isabelle came up to Magnus as he was queueing up for lunch.

“Hey, could you come to the Drama room once you’ve got your food? We need to make up for the rehearsal we didn’t get to have this morning.”

“Okay,” he said, more out of a desire to pass the project and get it over with than anything else.

Once he’d got his food, he made his way along to the Drama room. Alec was there, but Magnus continued not to look at him. Instead, he set down his lunch and started eating. After about ten minutes, Isabelle glanced up at the clock above the door.

“Clary, we’ve gotta go. Yearbook starts in two minutes.” Magnus frowned at them in confusion. What had happened to the rehearsal?

“I’m gonna head up to the library. I need to hand my book back in.” Simon said, also rising.

“You know what, I think I’ll join you. I need to print out my history essay anyway.” Jace got to his feet. One by one, all four filed out of the room, leaving Magnus alone in the room with Alec. Upon realising this, he got up to leave too- he was trying to finish with Alec, and had no desire to be alone with him.

“Magnus,” Alec called, as he started walking towards the door. Magnus turned around and glared at him.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“Don’t go, please. I need to talk to you.” Magnus rolled his eyes, and went to sit across from him. He would give Alec one chance, just one. If he wasn’t about to apologise, then it was really over.

“Okay, talk.” For a moment, he didn’t. Instead, he twisted his hands on the table, and looked everywhere but into Magnus's eyes. Then, after what seemed an eternity, he spoke.

“I’m not great at apologies,” he began. “But I’ll try my best.” His gaze now rested on the table.

“Sorry to interrupt, but is there a reason you’re not looking at me?” At that, Alec’s eyes flickered up to look at him. Whilst he didn’t make direct eye contact, it was definitely an improvement.

“Don’t take it personally, I have that problem with most people,” Alec muttered. Then he said, in a much clearer voice, “I’m sorry about what I said the other day.” He sighed. “I didn’t think about what I was saying. I am sorry I hurt you, though.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Do you think there’s any way that you could forgive me, and we could start over?” For a moment, Magnus looked at him. He decided that he would forgive him this time. He held out a hand.

“Okay.” He paused. “Can you promise me that this won’t happen again, though?” Alec nodded.

“I will do everything I can to make sure this doesn’t happen again. If it does, you have every right to call me out on it. Does that sound fair?” Magnus nodded, and they shook hands. After a minute or two, he spoke again.

“I think if we’re going to be friends and we’re going to make this work, we’re going to need to be honest with each other. Whatever’s going on with you, it might be a good idea if you told me now so I don’t get the wrong idea later. I’ll do the same, and we can go from there.” Alec was silent for a long time. Then, after what felt like forever, he spoke.

“Alright. Is it okay if I go first?” Magnus nodded- it would give him a bit more time to think of what he was going to say. Alec was silent for another minute. “Okay. When I was seven, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a condition on the autistic spectrum. For the last ten years, I’ve been trying to work with this and figure out how it affects me.” It seemed like that was him done.

“I see. I’m gonna be honest, I’m not entirely sure what that is, but I’m happy to look into it, and if you want, we can talk about it more later on.” Alec nodded.

“Fair enough.” They were quiet for a while again. Magnus knew it was his turn to talk, and whilst he knew what it was he wanted to say, he was still hesitant. If he spoke, he knew Alec wouldn’t look at him the same way. He wouldn’t be able to take it back once he’d said it. Twirling one of the rings on his fingers, he took a deep breath. He didn’t have to tell Alec everything, he just had to cover the basics. That was probably what Alec had done, after all.

“I’ve been having issues with depression since I was nine.” He looked up at Alec, who was watching him with a neutral expression. “To be honest, nobody’s sure what caused it, and it’s not constant. It’s gotten easier to deal with by now, but sometimes I still have days where it hits me like a ton of bricks. Tuesday was one of those days, which is why I wasn’t in school.” Alec frowned.

“Jeez,” he muttered after a minute. “Now I really feel bad for what I said yesterday. If I’d realised that was the case...” Magnus held up a hand.

“It’s okay.” He paused. “I mean, it’s not okay, but you know what I mean. It’s in the past.” Alec nodded.

“Alright.” After a minute, he spoke again. “Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Magnus thought about it, then shook his head. They had about twenty minutes left of their lunch break, so it was probably for the best that they stopped talking and concentrated on their food. The others didn’t make an appearance again, and Magnus couldn't help wondering if that had been deliberate. Maybe Isabelle had just said they were going to rehearse as a way of making sure that they’d be in the same room. He was going to have to talk to her about that the next chance he got.

When the bell rang, Alec helped tidy up their mess.

“I’ve still got questions about what you told me, but I won’t ask them just now.” Magnus frowned. He had questions too, if he was honest.

“Why don’t we talk about that on the way to your volunteering class?” Alec looked at him for a moment.

“You want to walk to my class together again?” He nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you then.” With that, he left to go to class.

When it was time for volunteering, Magnus went back to his usual seat on the bus. He sent a couple of texts to Tessa and Cat, telling them that everything was more or less resolved with Alec. It might take a day or two for things to go completely back to normal, but they were a lot better than they’d been this morning.

When they got into the school, at first they didn’t talk. After a minute of walking together, though, Magnus spoke.

“You can go first, if you still have any questions.” He’d spent most of last period preparing for this, and he was ready to take Alec’s questions and get it over with.

“Okay.” He paused for a moment. “The main question I had was, what do you think was the cause of your depression? I know you said that they weren’t able to pinpoint anything, but what do you think caused it?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. My mom had issues with mental health when I was younger, and she died when I was nine. That’s why they aren’t sure what caused my depression. They don’t know if it was because I lost my mom, or if it would’ve happened anyway. Honestly, I’m not sure either.” In an effort to change the subject, he decided to ask Alec a question. “What about you? When did your parents and teachers first realise you had autism?”

“I think they always knew, to a degree. I mean, growing up alongside Isabelle, it was easier to see if I was picking things up at a different speed to her, or reacting differently to her. My parents didn’t really do anything for a while, though. I guess they thought I was just a bit quiet, a bit different, and that it wasn’t going to be an ongoing thing. Then I got to kindergarten, and I struggled a lot there, to put it mildly. That was when teachers started to ask questions, and though it took a while, I eventually got a diagnosis. I didn’t find out until a couple of years later, though.” By now, they’d reached Alec’s class. As much as Magnus wanted to keep talking about this, he also didn’t want to be late.

“I see. Maybe we can talk more about this after class, if that’s okay.” Alec nodded.

“Alright. Honestly, I’m just happy that we’re talking again.” He opened the door a little. “I’ll let you get to class, though.” He went into his class without another word. Magnus turned to walk back to the Languages department, where his class was the rest of the week. Despite himself, he was smiling, trying to get his head around what had happened, what they’d both said. Whatever direction he’d expected today to take, this definitely hadn’t been one of them, and he couldn't help feeling at least a bit happy about it.


	11. Chapter 11

**A.N- Hey, guys, welcome to Chapter Eleven. Fun fact- the Buddhist temple described in this chapter is actually based off one I visited, called Samye Ling. I went on a trip there last year, which is where the idea for this chapter came from.**

**Also, I'm sorry this update took so long. I meant to have this finished months ago, but life got in the way. Now, though, I'm back, with an extra long chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it, though. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long.**

**Disclaimer: I don’t own Hamilton- including all songs, characters and lyrics that feature here. I also don’t own the characters in Shadowhunters.**

Chapter Eleven- Clary

The trip to the Buddhist temple was about a week later. Clary had almost forgotten it was happening, until she got a text from Simon reminding her. The good news was, she got the text before she left, so she could at least dress appropriately. The teacher had recommended that they wear warm jackets and sturdy shoes. Clary found the black coat she’d gotten last weekend, and put on her purple Docs. They maybe weren’t exactly what the teacher had in mind, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances.

The bad news was that there wasn’t time for her mom to make a packed lunch.

“We can get something on the way into school,” Luke volunteered when she pointed this out. He usually drove her in, since it wasn’t out of his way when he was going into work. “Anything in particular you need?”

“Our teacher said we weren’t supposed to bring anything containing meat, out of respect for their religion.” He nodded.

“Alright. We can pick up a cheese sandwich or something on our way, does that sound okay?” It was her turn to nod.

By the time she got to school, armed with a cheese sandwich, a bottle of soda and an orange, Isabelle was waiting by her locker. This was a new routine they were developing, meeting at her locker and taking it in turns to walk each other to homeroom. Clary preferred the days when they walked to Izzy’s homeroom, since it was in the Languages department, one floor below hers. Fortunately today was one of those days, since they were leaving first thing in the morning and she wasn’t sure they’d have time to get all the way up to Biology.

It wasn’t until they’d reached Izzy’s class that she mentioned anything about the trip. She hadn’t meant to hold off on telling her, it had just slipped her mind.

“I’ll see you in Drama, okay?” Izzy said, just as Clary was about to go. She shook her head, remembering the trip.

“I won’t be in class today, I have a trip.” Isabelle nodded.

“Alright. Where are you going?”

“To this Buddhist temple a couple of hours away. I’ll send you loads of pictures, but I won’t be back at school until after last period.” Izzy nodded again.

“Alright. I’ll see you later.” She smiled, gave Clary one more kiss on the cheek and went into her class.

By the time Clary got along to the main reception area, her class was already there. Simon and Maia were standing together, so she went over to join them.

“Hey, guys.” Simon smiled at her.

“Sup, Fray.” Maia raised a hand in a wave. She was about to say something when the teacher addressed them.

“Alright, is everyone here?” They all nodded, though she took attendance anyway, just to make sure. After that, they all exited the reception and made their way to the school car park, where the minibuses were parked. The school had two, reserved mainly for smaller classes going on field trips. They all piled into one. Clary and Simon took one of the double seats, and Maia took the single seat across from them.

“Are we doing this?” Simon asked as they were pulling out of the school. Clary took her phone out of her pocket, along with her earphones.

“Yeah, we’re doing this.” They each put one of the ear-buds in their ears. Clary knew they probably wouldn’t get through the whole album, but hopefully they’d at least get through some of it. She went to the music menu on her phone, and before long the familiar opening beat of Alexander Hamilton was playing in their ears.

The first couple of songs, they were quiet, conscious of the other people around them. However, by the time they got to My Shot, they were both singing along quietly, taking it in turns. They divided up the characters- Simon taking Hamilton, Mulligan and Burr, Clary taking Lafayette and Laurens.

They continued on like this for the rest of act one, still trying to keep relatively quiet. This was nothing new- they both knew all the songs in this musical more or less by heart now. Dividing up the roles was nothing new either. It got a little tricky at times, since there was only two of them, but they were used to it.

By the time they got to Non-Stop, the bus was still not really anywhere near the temple. When they’d finished the song, Simon paused.

“How much of Act Two do you think we’ll get through?”

“I don’t know,” Clary admitted. At that point, Maia turned to them.

“Is it okay if I join in? You look like you could use an extra person.” They both agreed. Maia got out her headphones. This was probably not the best way of doing this, but it was better than nothing. The three of them would synchronise the best they could, and divide up the parts.

Maia had said she wasn’t particularly good at singing or rapping, so they may well regret involving her in this. However, it turned out this wasn’t necessarily true. Maia was good- so much so that when they got to Say No To This, Clary let her be Maria Reynolds instead. By now, they’d almost forgotten that they weren’t the only ones on the bus, and it seemed unlikely that they would remember any time soon.

Simon went over to sit beside Maia, and Clary let him go, popping the other ear-bud into her ear. The two of them seemed to be in a world of their own, only able to see each other. They looked like they had really gotten into character, that was the impression Clary got.

At one point, Maia ended up taking Simon's hand, sitting close enough that she was practically in his lap. They really were in a world of their own, so much so that when Clary had to cut in with James Reynold's lines, she felt like she was interrupting. Just before the song ended, Maia leaned in and kissed Simon on the cheek. Then it was over, and the spell was broken. Simon moved back across the aisle to sit next to Clary, and it was as though nothing had ever happened between him and Maia. The chemistry had only been there for those few minutes, and disappeared as quickly as it came.

The last song they heard before the bus pulled into the temple parking lot was the second Cabinet Battle. Clary and Simon usually took it in turns to be Hamilton and Jefferson here, since they both loved saying the line, “Should we honour our treaty, King Louis’ Head? Uh, do whatever you want, I’m super dead!” This time it was her turn, with Maia filling in as Washington.

Just as they were finishing, their teacher parked the bus, and they all filed out. An old woman- one of the nuns who lived at the temple- in red robes was waiting for them. She wore a red wool hat to protect her shaved head from the cold. Once they were all off the bus, she led them up towards the temple.

Along the way, Clary tried to get as many pictures of the temple grounds as she could. They walked down a gravel path lined with flags. At the end of the path was an oddly shaped white building. The teacher explained that this was called a stupa, and that they might be going to see it later on in the trip. Right now, they were going to get a tour of the grounds before seeing the temple itself.

“This feels kinda weird,” she said to Simon, as they walked past the stupa. “Like we're trespassing or something.”

“It is open to the public, Fray,” he pointed out. “Plus, it has a little shop- that's always a positive, I love it when there's a little shop.” Clary supposed that he had a point. Maia looked up from her phone at his last words.

“There's a shop?” Simon nodded. “Damn, I don't have any spare money.”

“I can get you something, if you want. Just as long as it's something small and cheap, like a pencil,” Simon offered. Maia frowned, but after a minute she nodded.

“Alright.” She checked her phone one more time, then sighed and tucked it into her pocket. “There's no signal,” she muttered. “Great, that's just what I need.” Before Clary could ask what she meant by that, they arrived at the temple.

The tour continued from there, and Clary continued to take pictures. She wanted to draw all of this when she got home, as well as show Izzy everything. Clary smiled at that thought- it was strange, but she missed her. It didn't matter that they'd last spoken a matter of hours ago, she still felt that way. However, she tried to put it out of her head for now. Instead, she concentrated on the tour. They were taken into the actual temple, a large, richly decorated room. On the wall opposite the door, there were several rows of golden statues, and there were paintings on the other walls and various prayer wheels and drums. In the middle of the room, there were a few rows of cushions, with benches in front of them, and it was there that they were told to sit.

The nun explained what everything in the temple symbolised, and though Clary tried, she knew that she would probably not remember all of this. But she would do her best to remember as much as she could. When the explanations were all done, they took part in a short session of meditation, something they had learned about in class the week prior.

Once they were done, they were allowed to wander around the room, taking even more pictures. Clary found herself standing next to Maia, photographing one of the paintings on the wall.

“Hi,” she said. Maia turned her head towards her, and smiled.

“Hi.” She glanced down at her phone once more, checking for signal, and tucked it back into her pocket. “What's up?”

“Not much. Did you have any luck getting a signal?” Maia shook her head.

“No.” She sighed. “I can already tell this isn't going to go well.” Clary frowned, unsure what she meant by that.

“What's not going to go well?” At first she was quiet, and Clary thought she wasn't going to reply. After a couple of minutes, though, she did.

“My boyfriend wanted me to text him once I got here. I was supposed to keep in contact with him, and he's not gonna be happy with me.” This time it was Clary's turn to be quiet. She knew of Maia's boyfriend, Jordan Kyle, though she'd never really spoken to him. She didn't care to, if she was honest. Their relationship was known to be one of the worst in their grade- they were constantly arguing, and broke up and got back together on an almost regular basis. Right now, it appeared that they were together, though Clary doubted that was a positive thing.

“Tell him you couldn't get signal once you get the chance,” she said, in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. “Surely he'll understand that. It isn't your fault.” Maia just sighed, and shook her head.

“Clary, I appreciate what you're trying to say, and I mean this in the nicest way possible. Please stay out of this. You don't know what you're talking about.” Clary nodded, and smiled.

“Alright.” She decided to leave it at that, and walk away. “I'll talk to you later, okay?” Maia nodded, and Clary went to go see Simon instead.

When they were done taking pictures of the temple, they went outside and went to get their lunch. There was a large dining hall, where they all went to eat. Clary, Simon and Maia all found a table, and got out their lunches. For a few minutes they were quiet, eating their sandwiches, then after a while Simon spoke again.

“So, what do you think we'll do now?” he asked.

“Maybe we'll go to the shop or something? I can't imagine we'll be here much longer, not if we're going to make it back by the end of the day,” Clary suggested.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” he replied. “Hey, have you guys got rides home, just in case we don't make it back?” Maia nodded, but Clary shook her head. “Alright, Fray, you can ride back with me.” Now it was Clary's turn to nod.

Once they had finished their food, and tried some of the brownies that were being served in the kitchen, they all left the dining hall. They didn't go to the shop, though, not straight away. Instead, they went to look at something else first. A place where two streams intersected, and there were several piles of stones. The way in which they were arranged made it look as though they'd been done deliberately.

“Wow,” Clary muttered, taking a picture of one of the statues. “Look at all this- how long do you think it's been here?”

“I don't know,” Simon replied. “Maybe it's not been there that long- maybe they put them together every day or two, to remind them that nothing's permanent, not even rocks.” That made sense, Clary thought. This particular spot was hidden from view by the trees, but she imagined that everyone here would know about it already.

When they were done with that, then it was time to go to the shop, then go home after that. Clary wandered around the small gift shop, debating what to buy. Many of the items looked as though they were meant for prayer or meditation, so she decided against buying those. There were some lovely scarves, but in the end she picked a blank notebook with an image of the Buddha on it. She'd been needing to get a new sketchbook, and this would do the trick perfectly.

Once she'd paid for it, she went to join Simon and Maia, who were looking at a selection of bracelets. Simon was hugging a large, blue and purple, square-shaped pillow. Maia was holding a bracelet made of round pink beads and frowning.

“Are you sure you don't mind getting this for me?”

“Maia, seriously, it's five dollars. Just pay me back when you get a chance, and we'll be fine.” Maia nodded reluctantly, and they both went to pay for their items. When they got back, Clary gestured at the pillow.

“What's that for?” she asked. Simon shrugged.

“I don't know, it just looked cool.” Clary nodded. “What about you, what did you get?” She showed him the notebook, and this time he nodded. He might have said something more, but just then the teacher called them all to attention.

“Alright, everybody, we're going to head out to the bus now, and go back to school.” She looked at Clary, Simon and Maia. “Maybe we could do without the sing-song this time?” They all nodded. This was the first time that she'd mentioned the singing- up until that point, Clary had thought she hadn't noticed, which was a bit of a silly thing to think, admittedly.

In the end, none of them were up to singing anything. Simon put his new pillow behind his head and slept most of the journey, and Maia sat facing the window, too deep in thought to notice anyone. Clary just left them both to it, only intervening in order to take Simon's glasses off and put them in the front pocket of his bag, just in case. She looked out the window, wondering whether Izzy would still be there when they got back to school.

By the time they pulled into the school parking lot, the only cars that were left belonged to the couple of kids in their class that owned them, along with one or two others. Clary spotted Simon's van, and was about to head towards it when she heard somebody shouting at them- specifically, shouting at Maia.

“What the Hell happened? I told you to stay in touch! What part of that is so difficult to understand?” Clary turned around to find Jordan Kyle shouting at Maia. She turned back to him, ready to step in and put a stop to it. Simon had the same idea, it seemed. Still holding his pillow, he walked over to them, Clary following. Who did this guy think he was, berating his girlfriend like that?

“Hey, that's enough!” Simon snapped, getting over to them first. Jordan turned towards them both.

“Simon, stay out of this,” Maia said, but it was too late. He was already involved, both of them were. Jordan pulled out his phone.

“Actually, Lewis, it's good that you're here. I wanted to talk to you.” He pulled up a picture on his phone and showed it to them. Simon and Maia on the bus, singing along to Say No To This, at the point where Maia was almost in Simon's lap. “Would either of you like to explain this?”

“That is literally not what it looks like.” Simon shook his head emphatically. “We were just singing along to this song, and we got a bit carried away. That was all it was.” Jordan narrowed his eyes at him, then turned to Clary.

“Clary, you were there. Is that true?” She nodded, which fortunately seemed to satisfy him. “This doesn't happen again. Understand?” Now Maia and Simon nodded. “Come on, Maia.” And with that, he grabbed hold of her wrist and stalked away, taking her with him.

“Did that really just happen?” Simon asked after they were gone. Before Clary could respond, though, Izzy came up to them.

“There you two are. I wondered where you'd got to.” She looked at them both, frowning. “Is everything okay?” Clary wanted to hug her at that moment, but instead she slipped her hand into hers and started walking towards Simon's van with her.

Between that point and the point where they pulled up outside Izzy's building, Clary had filled her in on everything that had happened on the trip, including what had happened once they'd gotten off the bus.

“How did he even get the picture, though?” she asked. Clary hadn't thought of that.

“I don't know- maybe somebody sent it to him.” Izzy shook her head in disbelief.

“What an asshole,” she muttered. “Should I talk to Maia, make sure she's okay?” Clary thought about it for a minute.

“I don't know,” she said eventually. “You might be better off giving her some space for now.” Before Izzy could reply, they had arrived at her building.

“I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, then?” She hopped out of the van. Clary and Simon both waved, and she disappeared into the building.

After she was gone, neither of them spoke. Instead, Clary rested her forehead against the cool glass of the window, and tried to process all that had happened that day. Tried to understand how such a pleasant day could've ended like this.


End file.
